Hello everyone and welcome to my blog!
This blog will be my way of documenting my bike trip in Japan, it's mostly for my own sake, but if you should find yourself interested in my travels I shall encourage you to read on! Maybe you too will be inspired to undertake an adventure like I was!
I like to think that although I haven't given much thought to the structure of this blog it will come together by itself as time goes on, but in order to insure that this isn't just a complete waste of my time I will also compile a PDF later on with the most essential thoughts, facts and stories.
First I should write about myself. My name is Anders and I'm from Denmark, you know, the proclaimed "happiest country" with Lego, the little Mermaid and the highest tax in the world.
Although I like living in Denmark, I spent most of my time wishing I was somewhere else entirely. There is not much to complain about in Denmark, at least not if you compare it to many other developed countries, so I guess you could call me spoiled. I dream of traveling and although I have done my fair share of sightseeing, I like to believe that I will travel for as long as my legs can carry me!
I am currently studying Japan studies at the University of Copenhagen, so Japan - BIKEabout is not a crazy coincident. As long as I can remember I have always had some fascination with Asian culture and especially East Asia. This all started with a Nintendo Gameboy. I played until the sounds and pictures were flashing before my eyes when I closed them. I played Mario, Ninja Turtles, Street Fighter, Tetris and many others! After that I tried to look for more.
Movies,
documentaries, manga, anime, games, and books, I consumed it all. I looked for
more knowledge about Japan; I wanted to surround myself with it. It became a
way to be seen by others as well. In high school, whenever I could get away with
it, I would write about Japan, to my teacher's frustration, of course. (He had
to read about Japanese history in order to correct my assignment.) Whenever I
could relate something to Japan, my friends were almost expecting me to do so.
Of course I
started looking at Japanese language as well; I started drawing kanji without
knowing how to write them or what they meant. I just felt like I was closer to
the culture I was so fascinated with. It is important for me to state this: I
didn't want to discard Danish culture and I still don't. I know that without my
cultural background this fascination with Japan would probably not exist. So
I'm happy that I can get to feel this way about something. And since then I have been wondering where this fascination would lead me.
This is why we are here. My goal is to bike Japan. From North to South.
50 days, one man, one bike and one country.
Now this puts a lot of pressure on me, and many things can happen. I plan to depart to Japan after my graduation this Summer, I have some things I need to attend to, but after that I will move out of my student apartment, sell my furniture, secure a good quality bike and then look for adventures in the land of the rising sun!
This, of course, brings about many questions! How? When? With whom? Where? So on and so forth, but I have no answers right now.
But this is how I see this blog working out for me:
I will use it as a tool to mediate my thoughts about biking more than 3000+ km (1864.1 m) in a country that has had me fascinated for as long as I remember. I will use it to document my trip with photos, videos and stories so that anyone who is interested can follow me. And lastly I will use it as a way to remember what will probably be one of the most amazing, demanding and breathtaking adventures I will undertake.
What's left to say is thanks for reading a somewhat boring and most uneventful first post.
Quote of the day: Big things often have small beginningsCondition: Thrilled, but tired.
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